Tacos, Babies, and Dead Bodies
by Tahreh the Blind Ninja
Summary: Tacos, babies, and dead bodies, not exactly the normal things on a teenager's mind. But Taralynn and Nico have a lot to worry about. They worry about the infant they found, the Underworld, and not to mention, Connor and Travis Stoll.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: If you know the character from the books, then I don't own him/her. (example: Percy, Nico, Annabeth, etc)**

**But if you don't know the character, I own him/her. (example: Taralynn)**

**Anyhow, enjoy! ;)**

* * *

Being a child of Hermes after the war isn't the easiest thing in the world. Almost nobody at camp will trust you. Only a select few, Chiron, Percy, Annabeth, and maybe Nico, depending on if he's in a good mood, and some others will trust you. It's been what, a year since Luke's final stand on Olympus? I envy my younger brothers and sisters that have come here since then. They don't have to live with the scars that Luke left behind. We all trusted him. We all loved him. He was the older brother that you just can't stay mad at, no matter how many times he tosses you into the lake while you're asleep. Luke and I were rather close, like one of those overly protective older brother who trying to keep his wild child little sister in line type relationships. Percy and Annabeth both say that Luke sacrificed himself to kill Kronos. That's cool and all, but it still makes me mad that he let all of that happen. Maybe it's better that Luke killed himself, cause Zues knows that if I got a hold of him after all of that, he'd wish that Kronos had vaporized him. I try not to stay in the cabin and mope about it, but sometimes, the depression feeling is over bearing. This was one of those moments. I was sitting on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Travis came in a used my bunk as an armrest.

"Hey, kid," he said, mimicking Luke, "Whatcha doing in here being all depressing? That's Nico's job," he told me. I rolled over to face him, my brown hair falling in my eyes. I had very short hair, because of a certain brother and a pack of gum. My blue eyes looked into his.

"What else is there to do? It's way too hot outside," I complained. He patted my head.

"Thank you for that acute observation, oh master of the obvious," he told me. I smiled at him. He looked me over. "No wonder you're sweltering, you're in jeans!" he shouted. I shrugged.

"I like jeans," I told him. He mussed my hair.

"Kid, you're too stubborn for your own good," he said, "C'mon, change into some shorts, get your lucky socks on, we're going to go and attempt to beat Percy with swords," he told me.

"Attempt? Trav, are you loosing confidence?" I asked him, giving him my best surprised look. He rolled his eyes and left me alone to change. I slid into shorts and put my lucky mismatched socks on. My socks were the camp's comic relief. I had dozens of odd socks that I "find" in the camp's laundry. And I never where the same two twice. If I where the one that I stole from Clarrise and the one I stole from Annabeth, I will never wear those two together ever again. Today, I had a penguin sock and a sock with hippocampi. I went outside, the sunshine burning into my arms and legs. I squinted, trying to get a good look at the camp. The Aphrodites were all out in chairs, tanning. The Apollo kids were sprawled out, feverishly writing into journals. Percy and Annabeth were playing volleyball against some of Nike's children. It was a lost cause in most people's opinions, but Annabeth was telling Percy what to do, and he was athletically performing everything almost perfectly. The way his muscles rippled through his sweat soaked shirt made nearly every girl's heart skip about a dozen beats. Travis came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"C'mon, quit drooling, you know he's taken," he teased. I reached up and slapped him. He recoiled and walked with me up to Percy and Annabeth who, despite Annabeth's expert strategic efforts, were loosing, by a lot. "Percy, Annabeth, I leave you two alone for ten minutes to get my baby sister and you attempt to beat Jordyn?" Travis asked, "I thought that we were going to go and beat the tar out of eachother with swords, but obviously we aren't," he said, putting emphasis on obviously. He turned to me, "C'mon, sister dear, I will escort you back to the cabin, where we can both sulk because Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase ditched us to play an impossible game of volleyball with the children of victory," he said dramatically. Annabeth started laughing and Percy wiped the sweat off his forehead. The Nike siblings were laughing and told them to go ahead, playing against them was a lost cause. Annabeth took Percy's hand and drug him toward the arena. I couldn't help but feel jealous, but in my defense, nearly ever girl in camp wanted him. I knew I was staring and Travis smacked my head, bringing me out of my Percy induced trance. "You're fourteen, he's sixteen. He has a girlfriend, you have many secret admirers, GET OVER IT!" he told me.

"Y'know, Luke was a whole lot better with the over protective brotherly advice, you make me want to punch you," I told him. He smiled and we followed Percy and Annabeth. We put our armor on, which in this heat was like a suicide attempt. We both walked out and paired off, me with Annabeth and Travis with Percy. Annabeth looked at me and drew her knife. I drew my sword and we sidestepped until I finally made the first move. I swung my sword toward her head, she dodged and jabbed her knife toward my stomach. I side stepped and she was caught off balance, stumbling and hitting the ground. Percy and Travis looked over. Percy stopped fighting to help her up.

"You okay?" he asked, "It's not like you to loose your balance," he told her. She nodded, looking embarassed. She got back on her feet and squared off with me again. Again, I swung and nearly took her head off. Her eyes looked distant and I could tell that she wasn't really paying attention to what she was doing. Percy seemed to be watching her more than Travis, because Travis was landing some hard hits on Percy. He didn't have to worry, being immortal and all. I stopped swinging my sword and Annabeth didn't even notice. She continued staring off into space, occassionally jabbing her knife toward me.

"Annabeth, hey! Camp to Annabeth! Come in, Annabeth!" I shouted at her. She seemed to come out of her trance and looked at me.

"Huh? What?" she asked.

"You are spacing out," I told her.

"Oh, I just have a lot on my mind," she said.

"What could possibly be consuming your mind?" I asked her.

"All the building and plans and stuff that I'm doing, I should really be working on that," she said, taking her armor off, "See you all later," she told them, walking out of the arena. Percy and Travis stopped fighting. Percy said good-bye to Travis and me and took off after her. Travis looked at me and I shrugged.

"You ever get the feeling they're hiding something from us?" I asked.

"All the time, kid, all the time," Travis replied. Connor came in and looked at us.

"Tara, Trav, get yourselves cleaned up, dinnertime," he told us. We took our armor off and went back to the cabin and put some non-sweat soaked clothing on. The rest of the kids in our cabin were sitting on their beds, fanning themselves with books and papers. Connor and Travis led us out toward the mess hall, me walking directly behind them. We sat down and listened to Mr. D ramble on about camp events. We then got our plates and took them to the fire. We scraped part of our food in, sending our offerings to our Olympian parent. We all sat down, talking and laughing with eachother. In my opinion, the Hermes table is the best place to be. Seriously, we all have the best sense of humor. Travis and Connor sat at the head of the table, telling joke after joke, making the entire table, and surrounding areas, burst out in laughter. We played Texas Hold 'Em, using our deserts as chips. I won with a Royal Straight. And I lucked out, it was Saturday, and the harpies gave us all the extra desserts so they could clean the fridge out. I had more ice cream sandwiches than skin cells and don't get me started on the amount of lollipops that were now in my possesion. Travis and Connor were giving me their best puppy dog looks, silently begging for some sugar. Soon, we got up and started heading toward the ampitheater. Some of the Aphrodite boys were looking at me. Connor and Travis shot them looks and continued walking on either side of me. We got there and sat down. Will, head of the cabin, announced that tonight we wouldn't be out there long, maybe half an hour, if we were lucky. They sang our usual camp songs along with a Beatles song or two. We were dismissed and I started walking back to the cabin, when Travis and Connor came up and took my arms.

"Hey, kid," Travis said, "Have we got a surprise for you,"

"We want you to go to the cabin and put your bathing suit on," Connor told me.

"And meet us back on the dock," Travis finished, disappearing into the cabin. I followed, utterly bewildered, but I did as I was told and put my bathing suit on. I tossed a tshirt on and walked out to the dock. They were waiting there with a blindfold. "C'mere, kid, we can't let you know where we're going," they told me. I let them blindfold me, and they led me toward the beach. About a quarter mile away, I could hear music and singing. They took off my blindfold and I saw every camper who was over the age of fourteen singing and dancing on the beach. The Apollo kids had set up a stereo system which was blasting music at them. Aphrodite's children were taking turns dancing with everyone. Everyone was having a good time. I looked at Travis and Connor.

"How? The harpies!" I shouted. They laughed.

"Tara, Tara, Tara, Chiron grants us one beach party a year, and that is today, calm down, as long as we're back by three in the morning, the harpies won't eat us," they told me. Sam from Athena's cabin, who also was Connor's girlfriend, came up and put her arm around his shoulder.

"Hey, babe, why don't you come dance with me?" she asked. Connor said good bye to us and went off with Sam. Travis' girlfriend, Becky from Apollo's cabin, came up and offered to take him swimming. He took off his shirt and left it with me. I rolled my eyes and ditched his shirt and took mine off. I walked toward the food table and got something to drink. The kitchen's mystical magical drink cups were there, so I got mine and it filled with grape soda. I took a sip and stood there, not really sure what to do. I saw very few lonely souls, but one caught my eye, Nico Di Angelo. He smiled and waved for me to come over. I wove my way through the dancing couples and went to stand by him.

"Hey," he said. I said Hey back. "Whatcha doing?" he asked.

"Standing here with you," I replied. He rolled his eyes, but continued to stare at me. "What are you looking at?" I asked, blushing.

"It's just that, you in a swim suit, and," he rambled on, "You look like, wow."

"You expected me to show up in jeans and a tshirt, didn't you?" I asked.

"Everyone did," Nico replied, laughing. "Hottest freaking day of the year and you go outside in jeans, are you that challenged?" he asked. I smacked his head.

"Haha, very funny," I told him.

"I remember when you had long hair, prettiest brown hair I had ever seen," he complimented, before looking embarassed, "But your short hair is cool too," he stammered. I smacked him again before looking him over. He had on swim trunks and a black tshirt. His black hair was nearly touching his chin but with a jerk of his neck, I could see his eyes, which were just as brown as the richest chocolate. I had never realized it, but Nico might actually be hotter than Percy. Maybe it was the fact that Percy was older that made the girls swoon. Or maybe it was the fact that Percy had saved us from certain doom. Not that I care, but Nico was a definent possibility. He looked into my blue eyes and I felt myself melting into his gorgeous brown eyes. "Do, do you want to go sit by the water?" he asked. I nodded. He walked beside me, occasionally stopping to make sure that no one was watching. After the third stop I turned to him.

"Why do you keep seeing if anyone is watching us?" I asked him. He looked at me and shrugged.

"Most kids don't like being around me, I wanted to make sure that nobody would make fun of you for being near me," he explained. I raised an eyebrow.

"You're afraid of what Connor and Travis would do to you if they caught you with me," I said. He smiled and even when he was nervous, that smile could have melted anybody's cold heart. He nodded. "Don't worry, I think they'd rather have me with you than one of Aphrodite's boys," I told him. He shrugged. Finally we reached the shore and we sat down. The tides just barely reached our toes, tickling them. I started to involuntarily laugh. Nico looked at me, a bewildered smile on his face.

"What's so funny? Are you ticklish?" he asked.

"Very," I replied.

"So if I do this," he said, jabbing a finger into my side. I squeaked and tried to get away. He laughed, poking my neck. I squeaked again. He laughed harder, "You're just like my sister, except her ears were ticklish," he told me, tickling my ear. I spazzed and fell over. "Wow, I thought only my sister could have ticklish ears," he said.

"Yeah, I get that from my mom, nearly anything touching her made her laugh," I said.

"Wow, just, wow," he replied, "Did your mom look anything like you?" he asked.

"I get my dad's eyebrows and smile, but I have my mom's brown hair," I told him, "Some people say that I get my curly hair from her too, or it was curly when I was little, now it's straight-ish," I finished.

"Is she still alive?" he asked.

"Kind of, she's paralyzed from her shoulders down, I go see her for Chirstmas and about one week during the summer, she was in a car crash about a year before Luke left, that's when I started staying all year," I explained, "She lives with my grandpa, and he doesn't realy like me,"

"What's not to like?" Nico asked. I laughed.

"He doesn't like me because my mom had me when she was fifteen. I'm the reason that a business deal fell through. She was supposed to marry a man whose father ran a business that was going to merge with my grandpa's, but when mom found out she was pregnant, the deal was called off, grandpa swears that he would have made millions because of that deal," I told him.

"Marriage to seal a deal, isn't that sort of," Nico started.

"Medievel? Ancient?" I suggested, "Yeah, but they were all old fashioned, except for mom, she didn't want anything to do with him, thats why she took the chance with Hermes. He was the most handsome man she had ever laid her eyes on, and when you're a teenager, you do some pretty crazy things to get out of doing something," I told him, "He came back about a year later, and told her about camp, and she sent me here the summer before the accident."

"My mom died back in the forties," Nico told me.

"And your dad locked you up in a casino until he needed you," I continued. He nodded.

"Yep and, as usual, I failed him," he said, a half smile on his face.

"Must suck, your dad being Lord Hades himself," I commented. He shrugged.

"It has some perks," he said, "I can say, 'I see dead people,' and be telling the truth." I laughed and the water lapped at our feet again. I wrapped my arms around my knees and watched the moon sit lazily on the horizon, some stars were just peaking out. "Y'know, I'd like to meet your mom someday," he told me. I looked at him.

"Why?" I asked. He shrugged.

"She seems pretty cool, plus, it seems that your grandpa might need some zombies," he told me.

"I doubt he would be able to see them," I replied.

"Don't make it worse for yourself," I told him. He laughed and put an arm around my waist, pressing me against him. "Your brothers have a reason to be overprotective," he said, "You in a tank top is enough to drive us all mad, let alone a bikini,"

"I know, I know, I'm gorgeous, try to contain yourself," I replied. He laughed with me. It had to be nearing midnight or even one in the morning. We decided to go back up to the party, see if the Apollo kids would take requests. But by the time we got up and started walking, we heard a small cry. We looked around and saw a little baby, who couldn't have been much older than a year or two. Nico and I walked toward him and we knelt down beside him. He blearily picked up his head and looked at us with big brown eyes. He had fuzzy black hair and tinged skin that looked similar to Nico's. He was laying down in the sand, and obviously had crawled there before falling over.

"How did he get here? This is still within the boundries," Nico said.

"Does it matter? Somebody is probably looking for him," I replied, picking him up. Nico helped me up and we started walking up the beach, seeing if we could find his parents. About a mile away, and well outside of the boundaries, Nico held his head.

"I don't think anyone is looking for him anymore," he said. I looked at him.

"You, you don't mean?" I asked. He looked at me and nodded. "Poor kid," I said, hugging him. The baby's eyes watered and he cried silently. "He got across the boarder once, do you think that means," I started.

"That he's a demigod, wouldn't surprise me," Nico replied and we turned around to start walking back to the camp, when a giant scorpion burst out of the trees. I reached for a sword, but I realized that I was only in a swimsuit. Nico reached for his knife, but he didn't have it either. We looked at eachother, both silently asking eachother what we were supposed to do. Pure instinct kicked in and we ran. The baby started bawling. He grabbed my hand. "Hold on," he shouted. We veered left and I knew that he was going to try to shadow travel with us. The shadows came and engulfed us. We stopped running, but the traveling was enough to tire us. We were dumped out on the front steps of the Big House. We were both breathing deepily and we looked at eachother and started laughing. The baby was sniffling and we opened the door to the Big House. Mr. D and Chiron were playing Pinocle with eachother. They looked up at the intrusion.

"Well, well, well, two teenagers in swim suits and an infant, I think this party was wilder than we expected," Mr. D said in a bored tone, turning back to his cards. Chiron seemed a tad more concerned.

"What exactly were you two doing?" he asked. Nico explained everything. "So, you found the infant and walked outside the boundaries, without weapons, and were attacked, shadow traveled here and here we are?" Chiron asked. I nodded. "Has he been claimed?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Probably, we just don't know about it," Nico replied. Chiron nodded.

"Why don't you two take him to the Hermes cabin, just for tonight, until we figure out who his parent is," Chiron told me. Mr. D nodded, not really paying attention. Nico and I walked out and toward my cabin.

"So, what are we supposed to call him?" I asked Nico. He looked at me, confusion seeping into his expression.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"We don't know his name and we aren't just calling him, The Baby, what do you want to name him, temporarily," I said.

"Uh, how about, um," he replied.

"Jason?" I offered. He shook his head.

"You act as if you have a better idea, what do you suggest?" I asked.

"Taralynn, I don't think that we should rename him, considering he's probably going to be claimed sometime tomorrow," he said. I shrugged.

"Okay, if you insist, but I'm still calling him Jason until he's claimed," I replied.

"Stubborn much?" he asked, smiling. I nodded and Jason fell asleep in my arms. We finally got to my cabin. "I guess this is good bye," Nico said.

"Hang on, I'll just go put him in my bunk and be back out," I said. He shook his head.

"Tara, it's almost two thirty, there's no point," Nico insisted. I bit my lip. "Go on, I'll see you in the morning," he promised.

"Fine," I said and gave him a one arm hug. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "Good night," I said.

"Good night Tara, Jason," he said. He let us go and walked off. I went inside and walked to my bunk. I set Jason on it and changed into my regular clothes. A few of my younger sisters lifted their heads up and looked at me with glassy and foggy eyes.

"Taralynn, what are you doing up?" Amy asked.

"I woke up, it's okay, go back to sleep," I told her. She laid her head back down and closed her eyes. Jason slept through it all. I looked at my clock, which read 2:45. I still had enough time. I had to at least go and make sure Connor and Travis found their shirts. I went outside and ran toward the beach. Connor and Travis met me at about the halfway point.

"Taralynn, where had you been?" Travis shouted, using my full name.

"You ditched us and didn't tell us where you left our shirts!" Connor shouted.

"Yeah, Nico and I," I started.

"Nico? Nico Di Angelo? What were you doing with him!" they both shouted and before they gave me a chance to explain, they started dragging me toward the cabin, rambling on about how I could choose a much better guy from a cabin like Nike or Demeter, anybody but a son of Hades. They continued rambling, cutting me off every time I tried to speak. They shoved me through the door and took me straight to my bunk. "Now you get in your bunk and AHH! SLEEPING INFANT!" they shouted. Jason woke up and started crying.

"Smooth move, guys," I said, glaring at them, and then I picked Jason up. I started rocking him.

"Where," Travis started shouting. I glared at him again, "Where did you get him, I thought we told you that we draw the line at stealing babies," he whispered loudly.

"I didn't steal him, if you had let me explain, Nico and I were hanging out by the shore when we heard him, so we took him and went to look for his parents, but Nico sensed that someone nearby died, so we took him back here, and were attacked by a giant scorpion, and we were unarmed so Nico shadow traveled us to the Big House, and Chiron suggested that we keep Jason," I said, but Travis cut me off, again.

"Jason? You named him?" he asked.

"Temporarily!" I said back, and continued my story, "Chiron suggested that we keep Jason in our cabin until we figure out who his parent is, and here we are," I finished. They both looked at me, their expressions unreadable. "What?" I asked. Mischevious smiles cracked their faces.

"So, you're like Jason's mom, does that make Nico his dad?" Connor asked.

"Oh my Gods," I said. Travis pointed and nudged Connor's ribs.

"She's not denying it," he said.

"Tara and Nico, aww," Connor said and then his eyes got wide, "Hey, y'know how when two people are together, they smash their names together," he said.

"Like Bragelina?" Travis asked. Connor nodded.

"Y'know what Tara and Nico's name would be?" Connor asked, "TACO!" he shouted. Travis started laughing. I rolled my eyes.

"Go to bed, dorks," I told them, setting Jason back on my bunk.

"Okay, good night, kid," they both said, giving me a hug. I climbed up in my bunk with Jason and fell asleep.

* * *

** Thank you for reading! :D *gives you a cookie* **

**Review! Please! I'm desperate! (No lie)**

**I want to know what you think! (About the story, not about anything else in life, unless it's Aerosmith, feel free to talk about Aerosmith) **

**Haha, bye! See you when I finish the next chapter! ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! I am Tahreh! Just a note: I suck at minor details (ex: The fact that Tara can sneak into her cabin and wake her sister up, yet Connor and Travis can come in shouting and nobody notices). I'm sorry! But thank you for pointing those out to me. **

**Another note: The point of views will be flip flopping between Nico and Tara. Hence, this chapter is Nico's POV. :) Enjoy!**After I left Taralynn, I went back to my cabin. I sat up in my bed and stared at the ceiling. I had always liked her, but I never thought that she liked me. And Jason, the infant that she seems to think is her son, holy Zues, this is insane. And, oh Gods, what happens when Connor and Travis find out? I'm toast. Mmhmm, absolute toast. They will use me for kindling in the armory. I continued to stare at the ceiling. I noticed that it started to get fuzzy. I blinked a few times, but the ceiling continued to get fuzzier and fuzzier. I realized that it was an Iris message. My father's face flickered into view.

* * *

"Hey! Is this thing on?" he asked, "Hello?"

"Dad, I'm right here, I can hear you, loud and clear," I replied.

"Good, the child that you found, he is your younger brother," he told me.

"Jason? He's my younger brother?" I asked.

"Who's Jason? I'm talking about Spencer," my father replied.

"His name is Spencer?" I asked.

"No, his name is Cumquat," he replied sarcastically, "Yes, his name is Spencer,"

"Bianca, Nico, and Spencer, I love what you've done with our names," I commented.

"I didn't name any of you, that's was up to your mothers," he replied.

"Anyhow, so, you're claiming him?" I asked. He nodded.

"You're slow, hopefully this one isn't as slow," he commented. I sighed.

"Do you have anything else to say?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yes, that Taralynn girl, how close are you to her?" he asked.

"Tara? Uh, I don't know, we really hadn't talked before tonight, we were hanging out on the beach when we found Ja- I mean Spencer," I explained.

"Whatever, just wondering, I didn't ask for your life story," he replied. I could hear the souls shrieking in the background.

"Dad, is it me, or are the souls being louder than usual?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No, don't be absurd, I left the television on," he said.

"Dad, we don't have a television," I replied.

"What? What's that? I can't hear you, you're breaking up," he said, whipping his hand through the mist. The connection fizzled and he disappeared from my ceiling. I sighed, Dad's conversations with me were just so heartfelt. My eyes flicked over to the clock that was hanging on the wall. It was just after three. I figured I'd let Tara have Spencer for the night. I sat on my bed, thinking about her. Her spiky brown hair that was barely longer than mine and her bright blue eyes that reminded me of the ocean. The Aphrodites were right, she was a beauty, an athletic tomboy beauty. I fell asleep.

My dreams were filled with images of her and my younger brother. From what I could tell, they were set in the close future, because Spencer wasn't much bigger. He and Tara were playing with eachother, Tara walking behind him while Spencer tried to run from her, squealing in delight. Then, everything caught on fire and zombies and souls and all sorts of stuff that you just don't want children seeing sprouted from the earth. They completely ignored Spencer and went straight for Tara. She stood her ground, trying to get Spencer, but the soul zombies were too fast, closing in on her in what seemed to be seconds. Their bony hands closed around her neck. Her scream pierced the air, waking me up. I sat up, sweat pouring down my neck. I swallowed, breathing hard. Her screams echoed in my ears as I looked over at the clock. It flashed six o'clock. I didn't take my chances with sleep. I got up and changed my clothes. It was an easy three hours before everyone else woke up. I walked around my cabin, biting my lip. My gaze flicked across the room and it came to rest on a picture of Bianca and me from when we were just kids. I held the tears back, smiling at my big sister.

"Hey, sis," I said, kissing my fingertips and pressing them to her, "Miss ya." Her face continued staring at me with a smile that could light up the room. I sat back on my bed, looking out the window. I completely zoned out because I never heard the knock at the door. I continued staring off into space until the knocking turned into beating and shouting. I finally snapped out and looked at the door. "What? Who is it? Come in!" I shouted at it. The doorknob turned and Chiron poked his head in.

"Can you step outside with me?" he asked. I nodded and got up to go outside. He smiled warmly at me. "I figured that you would be up, you hardly ever sleep," he commented. I nodded.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Oh, yes, I've come to ask you about the child," he said, "Have you heard anything about his heritage?" he asked. I told him about the lovely Iris message I recieved not three hours ago. Chiron nodded, "And you didn't collect him after you heard this because...?" he asked.

"I figured that Tara probably had him up in a bunk and if I remember one thing about babies, never wake them up unless you have to," I told him. He laughed.

"Okay, well, I think that you should go collect him after breakfast," he told me. I nodded. "Can I interest you in a ride?" he offered, kneeling down to let me on his back. I shrugged and got on. He started walking and talking. "What do you know about the new Great Prophecy?" he asked, "Have you heard anything?" I shook my head.

"Why do you ask?" I asked him.

"Merely curious, that's all," he replied. I shrugged.

"What do you know?" I asked him.

"No more than you do, I'm afraid," he sighed, "You know how tricky prophecies can be." He stopped at the lake and we watched the sun rise in silence. I figured that it was probably around seven. "I think that it's safe if you make your rounds, doing what ever it is that you do," Chiron said, letting me get off. I nodded a good bye to him and went to the dock and sat down. I started thinking again and didn't notice Percy come up behind me. He tapped my shoulder.

"Hey, Nic," he said, "Mind if I sit here with ya?" he asked. I shrugged and he sat down beside me. "What are you doing way out here?" he asked. Again, I shrugged. "It's that Taralynn girl from the Hermes cabin, isn't it?" he asked. I looked at him.

"What makes you say that?" I asked him. He looked at me with a look that said, DUH!

"The entire camp knows about what went down last night, of course, Travis and Connor made up a story about how you guys found Jason so that none of the underage kids know about the party, but they told their brothers and sisters, they all told everyone else and within a half hour, the entire camps knows," Percy explained, "C'mon, you've been here long enough to know how this stuff works," he said, smiling.

"What's the new story so I can play along?" I asked. He sighed.

"The details are a little sketchy, but you and Taralynn were on a night patrol to make sure that nobody sneaks out and found him," Percy told me. I sighed.

"Can I have a private life?" I asked.

"Nope," Percy said, "But that means that nobody can accuse you of lying or keeping secrets," he said cheerfully. I rolled my eyes. Some of Apollo's daughters walked past, waving and giggling.

"Hiya, Percy," one of them managed to say, before they all ran off, squealing. Percy took a deep breath.

"It's a wonder Annabeth hasn't devised something that makes them temporarily blind when they look at me like that," he said. I laughed.

"I'd like to see what would happen," I said.

"They'd probably start running around, blindly rioting," Percy replied, a smile forming, "Anyhow, care to explain what really happened?" he asked. I told him my story. He nodded understandingly when I finished. "Attacked when you're unarmed, I know the feeling," he said.

"Most of us do," I told him, "Poor Spencer, he has to deal with this and he's barely a year old." He looked at me.

"Spencer? I thought his name was Jason," he said. I shook my head.

"Dad told me that his name is Spencer and he's my little brother," I finished.

"Bianca, Nico and Spencer, lovely set of names," he told me.

"That's what I said!" I replied. We continued talking for about an hour. By then the sun was bright and beating down on us.

"Looks like we're in for another hot day, huh Percy?" I commented, squinting against the light. He nodded and we got up.

"I'm going to go see if Annabeth is up yet," he said. I nodded a good bye to him and walked toward Hermes' cabin. I could hear Spencer's bawling and Amy's complaining.

"Taralynn, make him be quiet!" she complained.

"If you want him to be quiet, you'd go steal some stuff from WalMart for me," Tara told her and Nico could tell that her jaw was clenched. He knocked on the door.

"Tara, I have something I need to tell you," I said, "Go ahead and bring Spenc- Jason out with you," I finished. I heard her picking him up and walking toward the door. She came out, her gorgeous brown hair in a rats nest. Spencer calmed down when he saw me. "Hey, Spencer," I said to him. His face exploded in a smile. Tara looked at me.

"Spencer? That's his name? How do you know?" she asked.

"Dad told me, apparently, Spencer is my baby brother," I told her. She smiled.

"He's been claimed? He's your brother? I don't have to be stuck with him any longer?" she shouted, "Thank the Gods, you barely ever sleep, you two are perfect for eachother!" she shouted, handing him to me.

"He doesn't like to sleep?" I asked. She shook her head.

"He fell asleep around three and woke up screaming around six, and I've been up with him ever since, trying to make him be quiet. He's already loosing brownie points with everybody in this cabin," she told me. I smiled at him.

"Kid, you're supposed to sleep, not keep everybody up," I told him. I acted happy on the outside, trying to make the sleepy Tara a happy sleepy Tara, but on the inside, my mind was whirring at about a thousand miles an hour. He fell asleep around the same time I did, and woke up screaming around six, about the same time I did. I wonder if he had the same dreams I did. I looked at him, his brown eyes full of infant innocence. Tara and I continued talking on the porch until Travis poked his head out the window.

"Is daddy hear to pick up junior?" he asked.

"Not daddy, more like big brother," I told him.

"Explains why he's annoying," Connor said through the other window. I rolled my eyes. The conch horn sounded, waking everyone up. I left Tara so she could get ready for breakfast. I took Spencer to our cabin, still trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with him. He cooed and giggled and clapped his hands, making me laugh.

"Spence, you're going to be the Percy Jackson of the future, girls won't be able to keep their eyes off you," I told him. That seemed to make him even happier. Some of the Aphrodite girls heard him and walked over. They fawned over him, plucking him from my arms.

"Oh my Gods, he's adorable!" they shouted. I sort of stood to the side while Spencer ate up all the attention. Eventually, the conch horn blew and the Aphrodites gave my brother up, lovingly placing him in my arms. They eached placed a kiss on his forehead, leaving about twenty lip stick smudges. I did my best to wipe them off with my sleeve, but was failing. The kiss marks just smeared together, leaving my baby brother with a pink and red tye-dyed forehead. Tara came up behind me. I turned around to face her and she saw Spencer's face.

"You let him near the Aphrodites?" she asked, a damp washcloth in her hand, "I figured you'd probably need this after I heard the squeals," she finished, handing it to me.

"Thanks, Tara, you're a life saver," I replied, taking the washcloth and rubbing Spencer's forehead. The lipstick and lipgloss and whatever else was on his forehead washed off. She smiled as Spencer laughed and clapped. I handed her the washcloth when I was done. I finally got a good look at her. Her brown hair had been brushed out, now it was falling in her eyes, which were brighter than they had been the night before. She was beautiful in every sense of the word. She took Spencer from my arms and gave him a hug. He continued laughing and smiling. She looked from him to me.

"I don't know, Nico, he's seems to bright and happy to be your brother," she said. I rolled my eyes.

"We're exact opposites, we cancel eachother out, isn't that like a good thing?" I asked. She shrugged. Connor and Travis came up to us.

"MOMMY! CONNOR HIT ME!" Travis yelled at Tara.

"DADDY! TRAVIS IS BEING A TATTLETALE!" Connor shouted at me.

"Will you two quit with the parenting jokes? Geez, the kid isn't even ours, he's Nico's little brother, end of story," Tara told them. Connor glared at his younger sister and they both sighed.

"Okay, sis, we will stop with the parenting jokes, for now," Travis said, "But only if you give the kid back to his brother and come to breakfast." She sighed and handed Spencer back to me.

"See ya later, Nico," she told me as her brothers took off. She ran after them, her short brown hair flying back. Her long legs made it easy for her to catch up to her older brothers. She was laughing with them, or maybe at them, I can never tell with Hermes children. She jumped on Connor's back and made him carry her piggy back style to the mess hall. I started to walk toward the mess hall, my brother squirming and trying to escape my arms.

"Spencer, calm down," I told him. That didn't seem to work. He started to whimper and cry. "Oh, gods, um, don't cry, Spencer, don't cry, I'm going to get you some food," I said. That didn't work either. I started to walk to the mess hall and he started to cry harder. By the time I got there, he was crying full force. The younger kids had their ears plugged, while the older kids shot sympathetic glances. I sat down, wishing that I had a baby bottle to give him. Almost instantly, a baby bottle appeared on the table. I looked at it and then looked around. Will Solace was standing next to the table.

"Medical supplies comes in handy every now and then," he said, smiling. His sister, Sarah, was standing next to him and she gave me a sympathetic look.

"Thanks, I owe you, big time," I told them, picking up the bottle and putting it in my screeching brother's mouth. He instantly quieted and started drinking. They smiled and walked back to their table. Spencer quickly finished his breakfast off and I set him on the table so I could get my Lucky Charms. After I sent my offering to my father, I went to my table and saw Spencer trying to sit up. "Okay, kid, calm down, we'll go do something after I finish eating," I told him. I shoveled my Lucky Charms into my mouth. By then, Spencer had decided that it was time for him to crawl across the table and teeter precariously on the edge. Just as he decided to fall, Tara came up and caught him.

"You really need to keep a better eye on him," she told me, "And stop focusing on your breakfast cereal." I rolled my eyes as she set Spencer back on the table.

"Okay, Tara, calm down," I told her. She rolled her dark blue eyes and smiled.

"TARA! LEAVE YOUR BETTER HALF ALONE AND C'MON! WE HAVE ARCHERY!" Connor shouted across the mess hall. Her cheeks reddened and she said good bye to us. I scooped Spencer up and took him to Chiron.

"What am I supposed to do with him?" I asked, "He's an infant, they don't do much." Chiron laughed.

"He is your younger brother, hence your responsibility," he told me.

"But, but, but," I said. Chiron laughed even more.

"I'm kidding, we will watch him, but only while you have activities to attend to, and activities doesn't include hanging out with Taralynn," he told me.

"You two?" I asked. He smiled and I handed Spencer to him. He giggled and pulled at Chiron's scraggly beard. I thanked him and ran off toward Arts and Crafts. For the next hour, I attempted to paint a picture of Spencer, but it ended up looking like Picasso had a seizure while holding a paint brush. I gave up on it and walked toward the lake. Percy was instructing a swimming class, teaching some of the younger kids how to swim. Or at least, most of the class were younger kids. The rest were teenage girls, who came to gawk at a shirtless Percy. I rolled my eyes as one of them faked drowning in an effort to get mouth to mouth. I laughed as Annabeth swooped in, ready to perform CPR, and the girl magically regained consciousness. She jumped up and ran off, her friends laughing hyserically. She ran, not looking where she was running, and knocked me over. The girl was one of Athena's, which probably was the reason why Annabeth had been so jumpy. I helped her up and she ran back off, not really paying attention to me.

"Nico!" Percy shouted from the lake, "I can use some help!" I watched as a spaztic Apollo son kicked and squirmed, apparently terrified that Percy was going to drown him. I rolled my eyes and took my shirt off, recieving many gasps from the girls who were waiting for their turn with Percy. I waded in next to Percy and pried the kid out of the water. I set him on the bank, where he continued to sniffle. I sat next to him, my cargo shorts water logged.

"Hey, he's not going to drown you," I told him. He looked up at me, pure embarassment in his eyes.

"I know, it's just that, I don't like swimming," the kid admitted.

"I'm not fond of swimming either, but if there is one guy that I will trust with my life, it's Percy," I told him, "So why don't you go try again." He looked back at Percy and then looked fondly at the canoes. He nodded and got up to go stand with the rest of the crowd. I smiled to myself and leaned back, resting on the bank and covering my face with my arms, waiting for my pants to dry.

* * *

**Well, I'd like to thank you for putting up with another chapter of my writing. **

**Anyhow, review (If you feel the need to) **

**Tell your friends, relatives, coworkers, enemies, and your neighborhood hobo (Cause they just LOVE a good fanfic!)**

**And, I'm all out of cookies, *sob* but I will try to have more when I post Chapter Three. Toodles! *eats pizza***


	3. Chapter 3

**OMGs everybody! I am so sorry that this chapter took forever to write. And what's worse is that it's mostly dialogue! . I'm not going to blame anybody for my temporary stop in writing, I had a family emergency which required me to drive across the country and I left my laptop at home! Ugh, I'm stupid. Anyhow, hopefully this chapter isn't as disappointing as the new jingles. Oh, how I miss Eric aka The guy. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Archery was nothing. I managed to pull off one bullseye, even though it was on Amy's target, which was about ten feet away from mine. Plus, I didn't put anyone in the infimary, which is always good. After archery, I had to take some of my younger siblings to Percy for a swimming lesson. Chiron said that it was mandatory that we know how to swim before we participated in the canoe races. The kids were getting out, save some of the older teenage girls, and my siblings got in. I flicked my gaze around the bank and saw what seemed to be a sleeping Nico. A sleeping shirtless Nico. A sleeping shirtless Nico that was completely unsuspecting to whatever attack one might launch. I walked up and laid down next to him, rolling over on my side to face him. He didn't seem to notice. I jabbed my finger into his ribs. That seemed to catch his attention. He removed his arms from his face and rolled over to face me.

"Can I help you?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Just wondering what you were doing," I replied.

"I believe I was sleeping," he told me, which made me laugh. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"I don't know, just your tone," I replied.

"Do I need to impersonate your brothers?" he asked. I shook my head.

"No, no, I don't need another round of the Taco Song," I told him. He looked at me questioningly.

"Taco... Song...?" he asked.

"You don't want to know," I replied. He shrugged and looked into my eyes, making me feel like I was drowning in the chocolate river from that one Johnny Depp movie. He smiled a crooked smile at me and suddenly Spencer was lowered inbetween us. I looked up to see Chiron smiling warmly at us.

"I told you that hanging out with Taralynn wasn't considered an activity," he told Nico. Nico looked embarassed as Spencer climbed up on top of my stomach, smiling the entire time. Chiron trotted off, leaving us alone. I sat up, letting Spencer sit on my lap. He made all those noises that most babies make, smiling and giggling as he pulled my hair. Nico sat up and took him off of my lap.

"Sorry," he said, "I guess I should teach him not to pull hair," he added sheepishly. I laughed.

"It's okay," I reassured him. Spencer looked mad that he couldn't sit with me and started squirming to come back. "I think someone likes me," I said and Nico nodded.

"Wait, were you talking about me or him?" he asked after a moment.

"I don't know, who were you nodding about?" I asked him.

"Him," he replied quickly, pointing to his younger brother. I leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"Between you and me, I think I'm a tad too old for him," I whispered. Nico chuckled.

"Between you and me," he whispered back, "I think I'm a tad too old for you." I leaned back.

"Touche," I replied.

"Do you want to go somewhere else?" he asked me.

"I do, but I'm supposed to stay and watch them," I replied, pointing to my younger siblings.

"None of Apollo's girls watched the kids in the last class," he pointed out.

"Look again," I told him, pointing to Hayley Jenkins, one of Apollo's daughters that was a year older than us. He sighed.

"How long is this class?" he asked. I shrugged.

"About an hour, give or take," I replied. He let out a long, exaggerated sigh. Spencer mimicked him, making both of us laugh. He ate up all of the attention. Percy called out again, asking for Nico's help with my youngest sister, Kelli, who was terrified that a shark was going to come and eat her. _Remind me to slap Connor and Travis for telling her to watch Jaws, _I thought to myself. Nico sighed and handed Spencer to me. I sat Spencer on my lap and tried to teach him to play peek a boo, but I was failing. He just wanted to cover my eyes with his pudgy little fingers, giggling and laughing. But pat a cake did seem to come more naturally to him. Before long, I had him clapping and rolling, but he still wanted to cover my eyes. Eventually, he started to yawn and fall asleep. I bent my knees so that I could prop him there and still be able to watch. My eyes flicked across the lake, watching everyone else. Percy was demostrating a backstroke, my brothers were splashing my sisters and they were paying no attention, the girls that were my age giggled at Percy, and Nico was no where to be seen. I continued to look around, when I saw him out of the corner of my eye, coming up from under the water. He jerked his head back, sending his hair flying. He wiped the water from his face and opened his eyes. His abs were well defined, almost able to be called six pack abs. I could feel myself sinking into that feeling that most girls get when they look at shirtless Taylor Launter. My jaw popped open and I couldn't bring myself to blink let alone look away. He smiled at me and I thought I was going to scream.

What is this feeling? The feeling where you want to jump on top of a train and sing your heart out? Love? Really? No way, we're kids, hormones play tricks on us all the time. It can't be. I never felt this way when I looked at Percy, why does Nico make me feel this way? Why is it that everytime I look in his eyes, I feel that the world has stopped and everyone but us has dropped dead and are unimportant? Why do my fingers tremble when he flashes that smile? Why does my entire body feel engulfed with fire and ice (at the same time) everytime I hear his voice, so silky smooth, so entoxicating. Why does every nerve stand on end when someone mentions his name? Is it love? Is it what Annabeth and Percy have? Is this the love that they speak of? Is it?

He waded back toward the bank, water clinging to his hair. The Percy Fangirls, as I had come to call them, stopped looked at Percy long enough to take in the sight of Nico. Some of them squealed and whispered excitedly to eachother, while the older ones gazed whistfully toward Percy. The younger ones got off of their spots on the shore and walked towards him, throwing their arms around him, unafraid. Some of them fingered his abs while others ran their fingers through his hair, making jealousy burn within me. If it weren't for the fact that Spencer was asleep in my lap, I'd have stood up and took their heads off. He pushed away from them, leaving them disappointed. He got back to me and looked at me. I continued to glare at the fangirls, trying to decide whether to line their cups with poison or to just slit their throats in their sleep.

"You okay, you look like you're going to put firecrackers in their brains," he said.

"Can't be done without surgical equipment," I replied, not taking my eyes off of them. He inched closer and put his arm around my shoulder.

"Tara, don't be jealous," he told me, "Just think of it this way, they have no life, and you have me," he said before quickly adding, "And Spencer, me and Spencer." His touch released me from whatever animosity I was feeling, instantly cooling whatever rage was burning within me.

I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"You don't have to add him at the end of every statement," I told him, "I like you too." He stiffened and I felt his head turn to look at me. I gazed up and met his confused look.

"What do you mean you like me?" he asked.

"I mean that you're really nice and, despite what my brothers say, I don't think that I can do any better than you," I told him.

"But, you only like me," he said. I shrugged.

"I try not to say love," I started.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because love hurts more," I finished.

"Why would I hurt you?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know," I replied. He rolled his eyes.

"You are pretty and confusing," he commented.

"And you are gorgeous and easily confused," I replied.

"We're perfect for eachother," he said and I sighed.

"You're just now realizing that?" I asked sarcastically. He shrugged and we sat there in silence, waiting for my siblings to finish splashing eachother. I guess Percy finally gave up and dismissed them after another half hour of being ignored. By then, Spencer had waken up and was trying to play pat a cake with Nico. I rounded up my brothers and sisters and sent them off to the cabin to change. Percy came out, telling the mass of girls along the shore to get a life, he's taken. They all sighed and left. He and Annabeth joined us on the shore.

"Tara, you scared the snot out of me earlier," Percy told me, "The way you looked at the girls after they were through with Nico make me think that you could kill them by just looking at them." Annabeth nodded.

"Yeah, Tara, we thought you were going to stab them with a jagged butcher knife until they bled to death," she added. I shrugged.

"Okay, so I freak out when people try to steal things from me, stealing is my job, not theirs," I told them. They all snickered at me and Annabeth plucked Spencer away from Nico.

"Hi, sweetheart," she cooed at him, "Aww, you're just as adorable as your older brother," she said and I started grinding my teeth. I could see her biting her lip for saying that and she quickly handed Spencer over to me. Nico and Percy snickered as Annabeth slowly inched away from me.

"Don't worry, Annabeth, I can't murder you in your sleep, Percy would then kill me, which would make Spencer cry uncontrolably, forcing Nico in a state of pure insanity in which he would start stabbing people with socks," I told her. Spencer clapped at the mention of his name and started to laugh.

"I don't see how he is related to you, Nico," Percy said, "Normally, you're all sad and depressing, this kid's the life of the party." Nico rolled his eyes and Annabeth and I laughed. Connor and Travis came up to bother us.

"Hey, sis, when we send you to watch the little peoples, that means that you watch them CONSTANTLY!" Travis told me.

"And not ditch them to play with your adopted son," Connor finished. They faked anger, but the playful looks remained in their eyes. I arched my eyebrow.

"Okay, then you sit here and let the zombie prince tug at your hair while planning on killing the Percy and Nico fangirls because they are TAKEN!" I shouted at them. Their eyes got wide.

"Tara, you aren't allowed to kill things," Connor said nervously.

"Anyhow, Chiron would know it was you," Travis said. Connor nodded. I shrugged.

"Oh well," I stated. Percy and Annabeth had drifted off into their own little world by then and were sitting really close to eachother, gazing into eachother's eyes. Eventually, Percy kissed her. "Ew, not infront of the children!" I shouted at him. Annabeth snapped out of her Percy induced trance.

"Oh, we're sorry, we forgot Spencer was here," she nervously said. I shook my head.

"I'm not talking about Spencer, he's a baby, he won't remember that, I'm talking about them!" I shouted, pointing at my brothers. We all laughed and Connor abruptly stopped.

"Wait, children? Travis, Mommy called us children!" he said. Travis pouted.

"Daddy, tell Mommy to be nice to Connor!" Travis said to Nico. We all started laughing again when the lunch horn sounded and we all got up to go and eat.

* * *

**Well, yeah, I'm not going to make any promises on when Chapter Four will be written. I have hit writer's block and suddenly have the urge to write Criminal Minds fanfics. But I will update some time before August arrives, even if it kills me! **

**I love all the people that have been with me since Chapter One! And I love all of you that review! But not in the creepy way that will get me labeled as an internet stalker. 0.o Oh, and here, in honor of Grover (Who will be making an appearance in later chapters!), here's an enchilada! And if you don't like enchiladas, here's a taco, in honor of Taralynn and Nico. (:**


End file.
